


A Rose, By Any Other Name

by NullanyThorm



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Post-Volume 3 (RWBY), Retelling, Trans Male Character, Trans Ruby Rose (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2019-11-16 10:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18092978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NullanyThorm/pseuds/NullanyThorm
Summary: After the fall of Beacon, Ruby Rose comes to a decision. Rather than continue living how everone expected, Ruby decides it's time to stop being "Ruby". How will this decision affect the journey ahead, as well as Ruby's family and friends?A retelling of Volumes 4-6 where, after a year at Beacon, Ruby realizes that 'she' is a boy. It follows him from his post-fall of beacon stay on patch to the end of volume 6 as he and his friends cope with his transition into boyhood. As well as rewriting some aspects of the story to reflect these changes, and to improve some aspects.That said, I hope you enjoy it!





	1. A New Start

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So, this is a new work that I'm very excited for. That being said, there's a few tiny disclaimers I want to make before you read this. 
> 
> First: The author is cis female. I've been doing some research on the transitioning process, but I can't promise it'll be perfect. So if there are any trans readers out there that want to help me by pointing out if anything is off, don't worry about it! Just be gentle about it, please. 
> 
> Second: This story will be uploaded alongside another RWBY fic I've been working on. This will be on a slower update schedule until that one finishes, though, so it might take some time for updates, depending on my levels of inspiration for updates on the other fic I'm writing. Hang in there!

The small cabin in Patch was as peaceful as always. It was almost too peaceful, to the point that it was hard to remember the tragedy that had happened only days before. 

As Tai Yang was tidying the kitchen from lunch, a small figure watched him from the stairs. While Tai was blissfully humming a tune as he cleaned, the feminine, red-cloaked frame was darting around as if trying to escape. Today was the day, dad should know, how long can I put this off? Things like that had been going through the petite figure’s mind all day. 

But it never happened. The cloaked child never sat down to talk with Tai about the absolute whirlwind of thoughts that had been kept hidden. How would he react? Probably positively, but what if it wasn’t? Nah, there’s no way. This was  _ dad _ , after all. Still… There was the moping Yang to keep in mind as well. Would he call a family meeting? He probably would. What if he panicked? What if they both panicked?

“Rubes, was there something you wanted to talk about?”

“Yes! Er, no! No, actually definitely not!”

High pitched squeaks followed Tai Yang’s question. The silver-eyed child in question flailed, constantly trying to look for an exit to this conversation. Maybe today wasn’t the day after all. Maybe they should talk about it with him another time. This was  _ dad _ , though. He needed to know. 

“Ruby,” Tai continued, sitting down at the table and looking straight into his child’s silver eyes. “There’s something on your mind, isn’t there?”

“Maybe….”

A bright red hood was pulled over a mop of dark hair. There was a lot of fidgeting, shifting, and bouncing. Nervous habits that made the individual being spoken to incredibly easy to read. The knowing look that Tai had trained on the hood, which was now hiding the figure’s entire face, almost made them buckle. 

Tai just continued to smile. He pat the chair beside him, beckoning the small silver-eyed warrior to sit down next to him. They walked over, but didn’t sit, not really sure what to say.

“Look, you know I’ll always make time for you,” he said, “So if there’s something my little girl is worried about — ”

“Boy.”

“Huh?”

“Little  _ boy _ .”

The insistence seemed to confuse Tai at first. With good reason. The high-pitched voice, feminine frame and clothing. His child had definitely been  _ born _ female. At last, though, what was being insisted seemed to dawn on him. He paused, going from confused, to thoughtful, to understanding, to devolving into a complete panic in the span of about five seconds. It was, honestly, kind of amusing to watch. 

“Wait, so, uh… ” the tall blond stammered, “You’re saying you think — ”

“Not think,” came the quick response, “know.”

“Since  _ when _ !?”

“Did I know?” At the nod in response, the child continued, “Since Beacon. I kind of always felt a bit awkward and out of place, but… well, we don’t talk about the dance. Or rooming with three girls, even if one of them was my sister. Or a lot of things, really. Look I’m kind of panicking here too, dad!”

Those words seemed to cause Tai Yang to calm down. He paused, took a deep breath, and then after a moment just started laughing. 

“If your mom were here, she’d probably be laughing at me,” he said, “Probably just take this revelation at face value and roll with it.”

“I know it’s weird, coming from me,” came the fragile response, “but I don’t need  _ mom _ right now, I need  _ dad. _ ”

“Right. Right, of course you do,” he responded, taking a deep breath, “A confused boy needs a father figure. I can’t… promise I’ll give good advice, though. I mean, this is… it’s like getting hit by a truck! Though… not really a bad thing like getting hit by a truck, but… just kind of surprising and out of nowhere?” Another calming breath. “Alright, so where do we start?”

“I dunno,” Tai’s small, awkwardly femininely framed son rocked back and forth a bit. “I mean, I was planning on telling you after we came home for vacation and just kind of… going back to Beacon as a boy. You know, the way things should be. But then the fall of Beacon happened and I didn’t really have  the time… Idon’tthinkIeventhoughtaboutwhatIwanttobecalled...”

“Okay, squirt, okay,” Tai calmed his son down, playfully ruffling his hair. “Your sentences are running together. Let’s  _ both _ calm down.” He waited for his son to mimic his calming motions, eventually plopping down on the chair next to him, before continuing. “Have you told your sister?”

“Nope. Wanted to tell you first.”

“You actually have no idea how much that means to me,” came the answer, with a slightly dumbfounded look. “As for what to call you… if you don’t mind me choosing?”

The dark-haired child frantically shook his head. 

“Well, I don’t blame you for wanting a new name. “Ruby” is pretty exclusively feminine, after all. That said…. When your mother and I found out we were having a child… we were  _ really _ excited. So much so that we started rattling off names before we even knew if you were a boy or a girl.”

“Shame genetics got it wrong.”

“Sass levels down, please,” Tai responded, rolling his eyes. “Garnet.”

“Garnet…. Garnet. Garnet!” The small boy rolled the name over his tongue a few times as if trying to test it out. His face eventually split into a grin, and he nodded. “It’s perfect! You’re the best, dad!”

“Okay. Name problem solved,” Tai said, seeming proud of himself, “So… where do we go from here?”

“I honestly have  _ no _ idea,” Garnet responded with a shaky laugh. “Uh… I mean getting me out of these girl clothes would be a good start?”

“Right, shopping,” Tai responded, “Probably easier if we did that together… I guess a counselor or doctor?”

“I mean I think that’s how I start becoming more… y’know… boy-y?”

“So that’s definitely on the list then.”

“Actually about that,” Garnet responded, shifting a bit nervously. “Can I ask a  _ big _ favor?”

“I don’t like the sound of that….”

“I kind of want to see someone about the whole  _ boy _ thing as soon as possible,” he said, eyes glancing away from his father. “I mean, I’m going to be sixteen soon, right? I’m growing up, and...”

“Oh, right… of course you’re worried about that...” Tai Yang responded, suddenly starting to get nervous again. The fact that he latched onto that half truth made Garnet feel like he needed to apologize. “That’s not a problem at all. Why don’t we make a day of it? It’s still early afternoon… We can go shopping, get you some new clothes, then… well, we’ll have to do a little research to figure out who exactly to talk to… Maybe research today and make the big day tomorrow...”

“Thanks,” Garnet responded softly, “for being so… okay with this. I thought you were going to freak out a  _ lot _ more, if I’m honest.”

“What do you take me for?” Tai responded with a smirk, “I’m still your dad, you know. I have one amendment, though. I’ve been raising you for nearly  _ sixteen _ years. As Ruby Rose. I’m going to mess up, count on it.”

“Oh, I do.”

“Ha. Ha.” was Tai Yang’s none to amused response. “If I screw up, just give me a nudge, or a shove or something and I’ll try to fix it until it becomes a habit. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Right then!” He responded, getting up from his seat, “So. Before we start trying to figure out who to go to and what to do… family meeting time!”

“Uh, can we not!?” Garnet quickly regressed back into panic mode. He tried to run upstairs, hoping to hide in his room, only to be grabbed by his hood and flail around. “Dad!”

“Why don’t you want to tell your sister?”

“ _ Because _ ,” Garnet insisted. “She’s… Kind of going through a lot right now, herself. I’m kind of afraid that with things the way they are now….”

“She won’t like the news?”

A small little nod. Tai gave Garnet a sympathetic look, but continued hoisting Garnet up the stairs, carrying him by his hood. 

“Let’s look at things this way, then,” Tai insisted, “You want to start working on becoming more masculine as quickly as possible, right?”

A meek nod was Garnet’s only response. 

“And we’re going to be going shopping, and talking to a doctor or something tomorrow, right?”

Another nod. 

“Then we need to tell your sister. Don’t you think it would be weirder for her, suddenly seeing you walking around in boys’ clothes with no explanation?”

Absolute silence. Garnet muttered under his breath for a while, until eventually they reached Yang’s room. Tai reached to open the door before pausing for a moment. He glanced at his silver-eyed son, who was frantically flailing around in his grasp. 

“Look, Ru — Garnet,” he quickly corrected. “I understand what you’re thinking. Honestly, knowing how Yang’s been acting, I can’t say for certain she’ll react positively either.” He dropped Garnet, causing the small boy to land on his knees in front of his father. “That being said, we both already know why that is. She’s just not in a positive mindset right now. So if she  _ does _ explode, we just need to keep in mind that she’s going through a lot, just like you are. We can’t hold anything against her, but she  _ needs to know. _ ”

Garnet whimpered a bit in response. As his father held out a reassuring hand, though, he took it. Tai dragged him, only slightly reluctantly now, through the door. Yang was sitting in bed, as she had been since the fall, and hardly looked at them as they entered.

“Emergency family meeting, Yang,” Tai said as he walked in, completely ignoring the tense atmosphere. “Your sister…. No. Your little brother would like a word with you.”

“Brother…?” Yang questioned, confusion in her voice as she looked over at Garnet. “What’s going on, Ruby?”

“Uh, Garnet, actually...” Garnet corrected, thinking of how to explain. “Dad gave me the name, it’s pretty great! But, uh… So, if I told you that I’m a  _ boy _ ?”

“You’re messing with me,” was her simple, flat response. 

“Nope.”

“What in the  _ world!? _ ” As always happened with Yang, her first response was anger. “I mean, just look at you! What are you trying to tell me here?”

“Looks can be deceiving,” Garnet muttered. “Look, sis. I know it’s a lot to take in, but… While we were attending Beacon, I realized. The reason I was so awkward… the reason I didn’t like people-ing…. I mean yeah, I’m just  _ super _ socially awkward, but I also just… kind of discovered that I’m not the little girl everyone thought I was.”

“So you’re a boy!? Just because you’re socially awkward, just because you had some confidence problems?”

“Yes, okay!?” he nearly burst into tears as he tried to explain himself. “I know it sounds like a long jump. I was never really uncomfortable in girls’ clothes. Still, wearing things like heels, or going to public things like the dance just kind of made me move into a little bubble? I don’t know why weird things made me feel it, but they did! Especially living with three girls… But when dad was cool with it? When he gave me my new name? I just knew it was  _ right _ .”

“So what you’re telling me,” Yang responded, “Is that I just lost my school, my arm, and contact with my friends, and now I’m losing my little sister?”

“That’s not what’s happening, Yang,” Tai tried to reassure her, putting a hand on Garnet’s shoulder. “It’s just that none of us realized he was your little brother all along. Look… Garnet and I are going to do some research, today. We’re going to figure some things out. Tomorrow, we’re going to go shopping and talk to the people he needs to talk to, so we can get things moving. It’s going to be a bit awkward for everyone."

“Understatement. Of. The Century.”

“ _ Yang _ ,” Tai scolded. “I know you’re going through a lot right now. The fall of Beacon and everything surrounding it left a big impact on a lot of people. Let’s keep in mind, though, that your brother is going through problems of his own. Both from the fall, and with all of this. He needs  _ support _ .”

“Do what you want,” Yang responded, “You’re not going to listen to me, anyway.”

“ _ Jerk! _ ” Garnet yelled, running out of the room full-pelt, even using his semblance, with tears in his eyes. “I thought you of all people would want to help me!”

“Rube — Garnet, get back here!”

He didn’t listen to his dad’s calls after him. A burst of rose petals simply charged through the cabin halls as he ran as quickly as he could. He ran and ran, until he reached a cliff on the edge of patch. He stood quietly for a while, allowing tears to fall onto the surface of the gravestone that sat there. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there before falling onto a sitting position by the grave. Not saying anything like he usually did, but just bawling his eyes out. What pulled him out of it was when a small little ball of fur was casually dropped into his lap. 

Seeing the familiar little corgi, Garnet instantly wrapped him up in a hug. He heard the sound of someone sitting down next to him, probably dad, but didn’t pay it much mind at first. A warm hand was placed on his shoulder, and along with his furry little friend, eventually it made the tears stop. 

“Zwei always did make you feel better,” his father said softly. “Look, Ru--”

“Garnet. Come on, you  _ gave _ me the name.”

“Right, right. Garnet. Your sister is one of the most supportive, open-minded, effervescent sisters a boy like you could ask for. You and I both know it. We both know why she reacted the way she did, and we promised not to hold it against her, right?”

“I don’t,” Garnet managed through his sniffles, “I just… guess I wasn’t emotionally prepared for exactly how badly she’d take it.”

“She won’t be like that forever,” Tai tried to assure him, “so, until she gets back in the right headspace, and decides to help out. We’ll tackle this. Father and son. Together. Okay?”

Garnet gave a small nod, shrieking in surprise as Tai grabbed him around the shoulders. The two had a small wrestling match (which, naturally, Tai won) that had Garnet in much higher spirits by the end of it. 

“So, does this mean I need to start worrying about the day you bring a girl home?” Tai asked as the two headed back towards their home, Zwei plodding along not far behind. 

“Dunno,” Garnet responded, “Haven’t really thought about it. I guess it’d just be best if you prepared for anything.”

“Somehow that doesn’t make me feel better. Still…. I’ll look out for you. Promise.”

Tai kept his promise, too. Between their heart to heart at the cliffside grave and the coming of winter, Tai always seemed to be there when Garnet needed him most. Anxious and hesitant to talk to Yang at all during that time, he always went to his father if he needed something. Tai always did his best to help. He was there to find Garnet a counselor to talk to. He helped him shop for boys’ clothes, taught him to style his hair in a wilder, more masculine fashion. He was even there when Garnet needed to get binders and other essentials his counselor recommended (he panicked really easily when it came to those, though. Especially the discomfort that came with binding). 

So, Garnet couldn’t help feeling guilty as he dropped a handwritten note on their kitchen table. With winter coming, it was time for him to move forward. He knew his father would probably be worried sick hearing that his son, still in the middle of transitioning, had decided to run off halfway across the world. Still, it had to be done. 

“Sorry, dad,” he said under his breath, “but don’t worry too much. Your little boy’s gonna make you proud, I promise.”

He gave the note one last, guilty glance before heading to the door. He grabbed another small note, Crescent Rose, and his bag before leaving his small home. He’d go say goodbye to his mom, and from there it was on to Mistral. This was a first step, and a new start for Garnet Rose. 


	2. A New Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving his home isn't easy. Luckily, Garnet has a team ready to support him. Meeting up with the remnants of team JNPR, Garnet forms a new team, and is ready to put Patch behind him for their journey to Haven.

Saying goodbye to Patch wasn’t easy. After leaving his notes and grabbing his things, Garnet couldn’t help taking one look back at his cabin as he laced up his boots for the journey. He didn’t have time to let melancholy or homesickness settle in, though. As soon as he left his cabin, he found three friends waiting for him down the path. 

“Jaune! Nora, Ren!” He called out, darting down to greet them, “I’m glad you found the —- why do you all look like I grew a second head?”

He tilted his head playfully as the three former members of team JNPR simply stared, awestruck as he walked up. It seemed to take a moment for them to take in how much he’d changed since they last saw him. Eventually, it was Jaune that spoke up. 

“Ah, sorry,” he said, “you told us about the change in your letters… but I guess actually seeing it is kind of different. You’ve changed a lot.”

“Even if you still have the same squeaky little chipmunk voice as always!” was Nora’s addition. 

“Well excuse me for having a squeaky chipmunk voice!” he exclaimed. “I haven’t started taking hormones yet!”

“It’s good to see you,” Ren greeted him. “Garnet, right?”

“Yup!” he consented, as he bounced on the heels of his feet. “Garnet Rose, formerly Ruby Rose, ready for adventure! That is… After we make a couple stops.”

“Where at?” Jaune asked. 

“Well, I kind of want to visit mom before I leave….” he responded, getting small ‘oh’ expressions from the group as he did so. “And I need to pay a visit to my doctor.”

“Doctor?” Nora was the first to ask, “What’s up with that?”

“Well, during my last counseling visit,” Garnet stated, with a tone of ‘I totally did nothing wrong’ in his voice, “I might have mentioned I was a huntsman in training from Beacon. I might have also casually let slip, when dad wasn’t in the room, that some friends and I were planning to start looking for work in Mistral. Including a tiny white lie about wanting to transfer to Haven soon. She said I was brave to be so eager to transition during such a rocky time… and may have discreetly given me a note to take to a specialist. With said note, said specialist should give me permission to start taking hormones a smidge early.”

“You devious little scamp,” Jaune almost seemed to praise him.

“Pf, like you’re one to talk Mr ‘sneaked into Beacon with false papers’,” he responded with a dismissive wave of his hand. He got a small, nervous chuckle from Jaune, who was being stared at by his other teammates. 

After this, the group moved toward the grave site that was familiar to Garnet. As they reached the tombstone, the others glanced at the smallest member of the group hesitantly.

“Do you want a moment alone, or…?” 

The other three backed up a few paces. As Jaune asked, he made a motion to a place further down the act. Garnet read the motion as “we'll give you space if you need it.”

He simply shook his head, however. He got behind the group of three, pushing them all forward with a melancholic smile. “I wanted to introduce you.”

“But… wouldn’t you and Yang want to introduce her to team RWBY first?” Ren stated. The three all seemed to have expressions on their faces as if they were stepping on Weiss and Blake’s toes. 

“I mean,  _ normally _ ,” he said, “but we don’t know where Blake is. Weiss is stuck in Atlas. Yang’s being a  _ jerk! _ ” That last part was yelled in the general direction of the Xiao Long family’s cabin home, causing the Jaune to put a hand on his shoulder. “Besides….  _ We’re _ a team now, right? I want to introduce her to all my friends.”

As he gave the group an encouraging smile, they all seemed to come around to the idea. The group of four stepped forward — with Jaune, Nora, and Ren right behind Garnet. 

“Hey mom,” he finally spoke up after a small silence. “It’s Garnet. Though… I guess you might not be used to that name, yet? I know I haven’t really been visiting, but it’s been kind of…. Crazy. Though, that might become a trend.”

He and the rest of his new team all seemed to have a similar reaction to that. A shaky chuckle and glancing at each other with awkward looks. Still, they managed to straighten themselves out and get back to the matter at hand. 

“So! I’m going to Mistral. My new team and I are planning on looking into what happened at Beacon. According to Uncle Qrow, the best place to look into it is Haven!” He bounced on his toes, giving a small glance towards Jaune, Ren and Nora. “I feel bad about not being able to introduce you to Weiss and Blake first, but a lot has happened. So, this is Jaune, Ren and Nora!” 

He dashed around to the back of the group. They all jumped when he suddenly burst into rose petals for such a simple action. However, took the cue to step forward as he bounced back and forth. “Well, say hi!”

“Uh… Hi, ma’am...” Jaune started. He was obviously super awkward about the whole ‘visiting mom’s grave’ thing. “I’m Jaune Arc, one of Garnet’s friends. Um… My team and I will look after him while we’re in Mistral, so don’t worry...”

As if sensing his awkwardness, Nora practically pounced in to hug him around the shoulder. “I’m Nora Valkyrie, ma’am!” She seemed to lack any of Jaune’s awkwardness. Perhaps she was used to this? “Your little chipmunk is gonna be safe with us, so don’t worry!”

“Nora!” Ren and Garnet seemed to call out pretty much in unison. Though, with Garnet, it was more displeasure at being called ‘chipmunk’, while Ren was just keeping her in line as usual. Still, when the two called out, they glanced at each other and shared a laugh. 

“I’m Lie Ren,” Ren added, bowing toward the tombstone. “I promise, we’ll bring Garnet home safely. He’s in good hands.”

As Ren was introducing himself, Nora hopped in to hug Garnet. The small boy was trying his best to fend the girl off of him as she was avidly pinching his cheeks and ruffling his hair. He eventually managed, walking up to the tombstone again. 

“So… I’ve got a good team,” he responded. “We’re going to do our best to help people in Mistral while we look into the whole Beacon thing. Rather than worrying about me… It’d be great if you could look after Yang. She’s being a royal pain, but… she kind of needs the support right now, I think. I’ll be fine.” He glanced back toward his team, all of them smiling as he turned to say his goodbyes. “Well, better get going. Still got to stop in at the doctor, and I’d rather get off Patch before dad comes chasing after me to drag me home. See you when I get back, mom.”

As the others said their goodbyes, it was time to leave the grave behind. Garnet found himself being pounced by Nora again, and before long the group was having a discussion about which route to use to get to Haven, and how to go about their trek through Mistral. 

“So,” Jaune moved on as they got to the specialist that Garnet was eager to see, “Garnet goes in, gets the hormones he needs, then it’s on to Mistral?” 

“Well, kinda,” Garnet responded, “A condition tacked on to me getting the needles and such early was that I’d have to stop in and listen to the specialist talk about safety and tips for transitioning huntsmen and huntresses. Might take a while.”

There was a small pause as the other three looked at each other. They seemed to share the same silent question, which Jaune spoke for the group. “Do you mind… If we sit in on the lecture with you?”

“You sure? I can’t imagine it’ll be all that interesting, and you might not follow everything.”

“Well, we  _ are _ going to be a team for the foreseeable future,” Ren consented, “If we’re going to be with you, we want to support you as best we can.”

“You guys are the  _ best _ !” He responded, continuing his hyperactive bouncing. “Alright then, let’s go! Don’t blame me if you get a lot of T.M.I moments, though.  _ You _ asked for this.”

“Pf, please,” Jaune responded, “I grew up with seven sisters, and Ren and Nora basically grew up together. I’m pretty sure we should be able to handle it.”

Surprisingly, Jaune wasn’t wrong for once. There were a couple of moments where the two boys would get flustered, or failed to make eye contact with the specialist lecturing them. Still, overall, everyone seemed to follow and take the whole lecture pretty well. So, a couple of hours, one lecture, and one  _ very _ happy Garnet after taking his first injection later, the group was on the road. 

“How’d you manage to pay for all that, anyway?” Jaune asked, “I know the specialist gave you a discount for being a huntsman in training, but weren’t they expensive? Especially since you got enough to hold you over until we can see another specialist in Mistral. That’s at least a few months’ worth.” 

“Most of my allowance over the past few months… and an unwitting donation from dad?”

“You  _ devious little scamp _ !” Jaune reiterated as he and Nora laughed. Ren just seemed concerned about what the statement entailed. “He’s going to be furious with you.”

“Another reason I want to get off Patch as quickly as possible.” He bounced a bit eagerly, resisting the urge to dash off at full speed towards a ship to Anima. 

“Well, we don’t have anything else to do?” Ren asked. 

“Nope! All done!” He said with a smile. “Anything else I need, I took care of with Dad. Already all packed away and ready to go!”

“Then let’s go!” Nora matched his enthusiasm, “I’m ready to get this show on the road!”

“You and me both,” Garnet responded with a chuckle. “Let’s hop a ship and get to Anima already!”

“What are we going to do when we get there?” Jaune asked, “It’s a pretty long journey.”

“I figure we’ll just head to the first town with an airship, help people along the way.”

“True, we don’t have much money with us,” Ren agreed, “Not outside what Garnet has for hormones, at least. Working around Mistral while we make our way to Haven would give us funds to work with.”

“And more money, means more gear, means stronger us!” Nora added.

As the group boarded a ship, they were all optimistic about their future adventures. Garnet watched the group as they stood out on the deck, watching in the general direction of Anima. He smiled, walking up to join them. 

“Thanks guys,” he said, “For everything. Coming with me, being so cool with me changing and everything.”

“Well, we have a stake in the whole Beacon thing too,” Jaune said, “After everything that happened… we want to catch the ones responsible for it as much as you do.”

The group looked down for a moment, and it didn’t take an Atlesian scientist to figure out why. Garnet glanced down at the deck, an odd feeling bubbling up in the back of his throat. Before he could say anything about it, though, Nora added a cheerful response to lighten the mood. 

“And besides! You’re you, no matter what, little chipmunk!” Oh, great. That was going to be his nickname now. “The only problem I have is being surrounded by boys! Talk about awkward, right.”

“Suffer as I suffered being around nothing but girls at Beacon,” Garnet tacked on playfully, and the group laughed. 

“I’m not sure if we’ll be much help,” Ren commented, “but we’ll do everything we can. For you, and everyone who lost something at the fall of Beacon.”

Garnet shook his head, wrapping his tiny arms as best he could around all three with a grin. “You guys are the best team I could have asked for. Thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, the stage is set for Volume 4! After this, we'll be jumping straight into the timeskip. That being said, there are a few things I want to cover before we get into the actual retelling of V4-6's story. 
> 
> Volume 4, I should warn everyone, won't change much. I'm going to be following an 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' policy, and I think Volume 4 is perfectly fine. There will be a few scenes added to show more of team RNJR's dynamic and some changes that would be entailed by Garnet's transitioning but that's most that will change. Weiss and Blake's stories will be pretty much cut and mentioned in passing once everyone reunites in Volume 5. Yang's will be covered, but in more of a flashback during Volume 5. As such, Volume 4 might come off as a bit short, but don't worry! Plenty of extra scenes will be added on for teams RWBY and RNJR in the subsequent volumes so hopefully it works out. I hope you look forward to seeing how things will change!


	3. The Next Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet, Jaune, Ren and Nora's journey to Haven Academy continues. After several months of travel through Anima, they find their way to a small village with a Grimm problem. They help the village, gear up for the adventures ahead, and set their sights on Mistral, which is closer than ever.

“Why do you guys get your new gear first!?”

“Um, because it’ll take more time for the smith to finish your armor, duh!”

“Why can’t you wait until we’re done with the job?”

“Because it’s dangerous. We’ll need every upgrade we can get.”

“Exactly!”

Silver eyes rolled as the rest of his team argued about their future plans. Garnet walked forward, leaning to get in between Jaune and Nora, who were still bickering. He gave them each a look that read ‘okay, I think we’ve had enough of this’, and they all stopped.

“Look,” he said. His voice, though still high pitched for a boy, had dropped to the point where it was still decidedly masculine. It was something he was incredibly thankful for. “This job is the only reason we’re able to get all these upgrades in the first place, so let’s stop bickering, gear up, and _take care of it!?_ ”

“Well, he’s right about that,” Ren agreed, “Anywhere else had prices too steep to upgrade Jaune’s armor, even if we brought in the materials. So, we need to finish the job first to be able to retrieve it, anyway.”

“Alright then!” Nora finally stopped shouting (sort of), “Garnet, Ren and I will gear up, then it’s on to take care of some Grimm, alright!?”

“Technically, it’s only one Grimm,” Ren countered, tilting his head with a look that said ‘were you not listening?’.

“Details, who needs ‘em!” Was Nora’s not-so-eloquent rebuttal. “Shopping! Then Grimm!”

The whole group laughed. Though Jaune was still pouting about not being able to gear up himself, they ultimately agreed on their next course of action and set about getting the things they’d need for the upcoming battle. This included new clothes since most of them were outgrowing their old ones.

He couldn’t help feeling excited as he laced up his new black leather vest. Be dusted off his new pants, and buckled his boots before giving himself a once-over in the mirror. He couldn't help but chuckle dryly to himself as he did so. Would the rest of team RWBY even recognize him whenever they reunited? Even he had a hard time believing he and Ruby Rose of beacon were the same person.

It wasn't like he'd suddenly grown to Jaune's height or anything. He was still the shortest member of the group, still desperately pining for just a few more inches. He still had a bit of a baby face, too. Still, he was different. There wouldn't be any more mistaking him for a girl, anyway.

After nodding to himself in the mirror, he stepped out of the changing room and held his arms out to greet his friends. “Well?”

“Our little chipmunk is all grown up!”

Nora, who’d already changed into her new outfit a moment ago, practically tackled him in tears. Having gotten used to it, he simply laughed as she clung around him and started messing up his hair with her overly-enthusiastic head patting.

“Thanks, Nora, but can you stop with the chipmunk already!?” he asked, “My voice has dropped and everything! I’m not a chipmunk anymore!”

“Oh, at this point, it’s just a friendly nickname!” she said with a grin.

“The new look suits you,” was Jaune's input. The (obnoxiously) tall blond was smiling down at him like a proud older brother.

“I suppose we’re all ready, then,” Ren greeted as he walked out of his own changing room.

As everyone took in the new changes and started gearing up, Garnet slid over to Ren. He put a hand on his teammate's shoulder, flashing a playful smile.

“So… about that date you owe me from our last bet…”

“Wait… I thought you were joking about that.”

“Eh,” was Garnet's response, “Maybe I was… Maybe I wasn't.”

“That's… not helping me figure out if I really owe you a date or not.”

“Garnet, stop flirting.” Jaune intervened with his games, tugging at his hood. “Let's take care of that Grimm!”

“It pops up in the forest, right!?” Nora agreed, “Let’s go smash it!”

“About that…” Jaune asked, “Are we sure I'll be okay without my sword and shield?”

“Pf, you'll be fine, ” Garnet dismissed with a wave of his hand. “You don't need a weapon, you're the strategist! Besides, how hard could it be?”

Survey says — really hard. Why did he agree to be the bait again?

As he went tumbling off the cliff, giant rock-Grimm behind him, he couldn’t help but think that. He fell through the trees, his aura absorbing most of the pain as his yelps of “bad… landing… strategy!” could probably be heard by the rest of the team. He leapt back into action quickly after the whole falling part was over, at least.

He zoomed past Ren and Nora, sniper rifle locked and loaded as he headed back towards the monster. His shouts of “could use some help!” didn’t fall on deaf ears. Before long, he was receiving cover fire from Nora’s grenade launcher. Ren tried to find a weak point with his blades, but Garnet gave cover fire as the daggers didn’t even seem to phase it.

Well, go figure, it _was_ made of a bunch of boulders.

“We’ve got to get in closer!”

“My blades don’t hurt it!”

As Garnet watched the conversation between his teammates unfold, he decided to make his own solution. He grabbed one of his cartridges of Dust-packed ammo, not exactly in the best of moods, now. “Then how about _this!_ ”

He attached the cartridge, dashing forward as the grimm prepared a powerful swing. Taking aim, he fired his electrically-charged ammo at the creature’s arm. Unfortunately, the Dust seemed completely ineffective. The Grimm continued its downswing, and the pressure from the sheer strength sent everyone flying backwards.

Yup, this was much harder than Garnet had given it credit for earlier. Who would have guessed electric dust wouldn’t have worked on a giant pile of rocks?

“Alright, that’s it!” an enraged Nora ran forward. She tossed her trusty weapon into the air, allowing it to turn into the much more familiar hammer. She readied a powerful swing of her own in time with the Grimm, taking out one of the giant rocks that made up its arm. There wasn’t any time to celebrate, however.

The Grimm tossed more of the rocks that made up its arm toward Nora, and Garnet dashed in front to protect her. The two continued dodging and destroying parts of the rock-arm that were tossed their way. Garnet swore he heard Jaune shouting something from the back… but he was too focused on the fight in front of him to really hear it.

“You know, we make a good team, Nora!” Garnet noted as they dodged the creature’s attacks.

“If you’re about to try flirting with me again, save it for later lover boy!” Nora interjected, causing Garnet to slump over in slight disappointment.

“Its arm is a tree! Its arm is a tree!”

Jaune’s voice was clearer this time as Garnet looked over to see him running around as the giant Grimm chased him. Honestly, it was kind of funny watching him try to run away from the sweeping tree attacks, but he had a friend to save.

“Big Mistake!” He grabbed a cartridge of fire dust, this time, knowing for sure it was going to be effective. He didn’t need Jaune’s own ‘big mistake!’ to know it was a problem when the Grimm started swinging around a now _flaming_ tree, however.

Luckily, Ren came to the rescue. He threw his dagger like a boomerang, which hit it on the face and caused it to fall backward. The fire on its tree-arm slowly petered out , and they had a small moment to have a strategy pow-wow as the rock-turtle struggled to get up (yes, comparing it to a turtle was totally necessary).

“Okay, how do we do this?” Jaune asked.

“Its body is too thick to break through!” Ren input.

“It doesn’t care about its body.”

“Plus, it keeps growing new limbs!” Nora added.

“But it’s protecting its face...”

“We can’t break it!”

Jaune seemed deep in thought there. He muttered a few things, before all of a sudden a look of realization came over him. Well, here came another one of Jaune’s crazy, but effective, ideas, Garnet couldn’t help but think.

“Guys, I’ve got it!” he said, “We hit it _harder_!”

“Is… That it?” Ren questioned incredulously.

“Sounds like a plan I’d come up with,” Garnet input with a snicker.

“No, seriously!” Jaune defended his idea, “It’s trying to keep us from its face! If we kill its limbs, we have a shot of killing the whole thing.”

“Well why didn’t you put it that way first?” Garnet asked. Grinning as Jaune gave him the absolute snarkiest ‘I didn’t ask for input’ look. “Alright then! Let’s do this, team!”

With cheers of support from the other members of the team, Jaune sent them in their directions. Garnet split off toward the right. He hacked and shot away at the creature as best he could while Nora was charging up her upgraded hammer.

Hearing a shout of “Use everything you’ve got!” from Jaune, he glanced over at Nora. He activated his semblance and went full-speed, picking the cute bruiser up and ramming right through the Grimm’s tree arm. Nora’s hammer did the rest of the work, taking out the creature’s limbs one by one. With its limbs gone, the wraith-like true form came out from the boulder it was possessing. A nod from Nora, and Garnet pulled out his rifle and shot it clean in the face, killing it.

“Another victory for team JNRR!” Jaune panted out, before doubling over. “You know what, I’m starting to see your point Ren. Not really sounding great anymore.”

“Come on, guys, let’s get back to town!” Garnet cheered. “We need to let the chief know that their village is safe now.”

“And get Jaune his new gear!” Nora cheered, “Courtesy of the whole arrangement.”

They met with the village chief, reassuring him that the Grimm was cleared out. Though he seemed concerned about payment, they made sure to let him know that they were fine, and headed to the blacksmith that they’d asked to work on Jaune’s new gear.

As they walked in, the bull faunus shopkeep greeted them heartily. He almost instantly went to the back, recognizing them, and came out with the chestplate to start with. He happily slammed it down on the counter in front of him with a smile.

“There you go, son!” he directed at Jaune, “It’ll be heavier than you’re used to, but you’ll thank me next time you go up against a set of claws.”

The white breastplate was incredibly well-made. Jaune looked down at it, an awe-struck smile on his face. Garnet and the others looked on, smiles on their faces as Jaune walked up to the counter.

“Um, thank you…. I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t have to say anything!” The smith insisted, “Just put it on! I’ll go get the rest!”

“So?” Nora asked as the shopkeep went to the back, “What are you waiting for!?”

“Oh… Right!” Jaune stepped up to the counter, removing his chest armor. As he set it down, he looked down at his old armor with a nostalgic look on his face. “I guess I was going to grow out of it, eventually.”

“A sign of progress,” Ren reassured him.

“Progress,” Jaune echoed, as he turned around reassured.

And the moment was promptly ruined by the boy’s hoodie. Garnet had never seen it under the armor, but the cute design on the front made him burst into a bout of snickers.

“What is it?”

“What is that!?” He asked, pointing directly at Jaune.

“My hoodie?” The blond asked, “I’ve always had this.”

“It’s got a cute little bunny rabbit!” Garnet teased, bursting into a fit of laughter.

“It’s Pumpkin Pete!” Of course it was. How was he not surprised? “You know, from the cereal!?”

“What did you do!? Send in a box top for a prize!”

“Yeah! Fifty!”

He’d burst into such uproarious laughter, he wasn’t really paying attention to anything else. Knowing how much Jaune loved that cereal, he should have guessed the boy would have something like that. Still, it was just so _funny_ to see the cute rabbit design on the front of his hoodie that Garnet just couldn’t help it. Only the sound of the shopkeep’s voice knocked him out of it, as Jaune’s new and improved sword and shield were set down.

“Alright, I made all the modifications you asked for!” The keep said enthusiastically as everyone looked on in awe. “That was some fine metal you brought me. It accents the white nicely. Where’d you get it from?”

“From a friend.”

The group all took on melancholic smiles at the memory. They each gave Jaune a pat on the back before heading outside, waiting for him to change. Before long, he was coming out of the shop decked out in his new gear. Garnet couldn’t help grinning, and Ren and Nora behind him probably knew what was coming.

“He cleans up, alright, don’t you think?” The shopkeep asked. Oh, that was just an invitation.

“He certainly does,” Garnet responded, sliding in next to Jaune, making a dramatic motion of putting his hand on his forehead. “Look at you, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor. You know, if it means I get to live happily ever after with you, I wouldn’t mind being a captive prince.”

Aha! He got a blush! A small one, but it was a blush!

“Garnet,” Jaune grumbled, “I will admit, that one was kind of smooth… but can you go five minutes without flirting with one of us!?”

“I can’t help the fact that everyone in this team is super attractive,” he responded with a shrug.

“I still think a grenade launcher would have really pulled Jaune's new look together,” Nora insisted, getting chuckles from the rest of the group.

“Either way,” Garnet said, “Nothing’s going to stop team RNJR now!”

“Team JNRR!” Nora insisted.

“Still not a color,” was Ren’s two cents.

“It doesn’t matter what we’re called.” Jaune quieted the team’s bickering as he stowed his sword away. “All that matters is that we’re together.”

“You kids sure you don’t want to stick around?” The smith asked. “You’ve been real good to this town.”

“Sorry,” Garnet responded, “but we have another mission.”

“Make it to Haven Academy!” Nora cheered with a fist pumping motion. “No matter what!”

“We’ve heard the next village over has a working airship,” Ren said.

“Hm, no way to no for sure,” the bull faunus pondered. “Scroll signals were bad enough out here when Beacon tower was still up. Haven’t heard from Xion Village in a while.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out!” Garnet responded, leaving with the rest of the group. As they headed out, and Jaune Ren and Nora went over their checklist, Garent couldn’t help but feel hopeful for what was to come. He jogged to keep pace with Jaune, giving one last parting statement.

“Team RNJR is still cooler.”

“Garnet!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The retelling really begins! Honestly, what I'm most worried about is my inability to write fight scenes. Guess I should have thought of that before deciding to do a re-write for an action show, but what can you do? 
> 
> So! With the new beginning comes a couple points I want to make. This is going to be full of a lot of headcanon. For example, the sassy bisexual disaster that is Garnet Rose. I'm sure you noticed his flirting with the members of team RNJR during the chapter, so let me talk about that for a moment. It might be brought up more directly later, but basically it's taken from the fact that taking testosterone for FTM can cause an increase in sex drive. Of course, Ruby is a pure bean and I don't want to change Garnet too much, so the most that will equate to is flirting along the lines of what you saw in this chapter. 
> 
> Expect. Garnet. To flirt with. Everyone. 
> 
> Outside of Qrow and Yang, everyone's fair game. It's not meant to change his character too much, as he'll still be the bouncy, sassy litle thing that Ruby has always been, but rather it's meant more as a small nod to that side of the transitioning process. As well as just him gaining confidence from growing more masculine. I wasn't sure about it at first, but I think it's a really cute touch and I like it. 
> 
> For Volume 4, that will probably be the biggest change. Keep an eye out for more changes and headcanon in the future though!


	4. Rememberance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the group continues their trek towards Mistral, spirits aren't necessarily high. Garnet does his best to keep their positive momentum going, but an unexpected happening shakes the team. They manage to shake it off, but how long will it be until all of the team's pent up emotions catch up to them?

_ Her entire world was burning around her.  _

_ The small girl could only charge forward as her school burned, the White Fang invaded, and Grimm were running rampant. All she could think about were her friends, her sister, her teachers, her everything. Her everything, which she wasn’t sure would make it out alive.  _

_ With Penny destroyed, no sign of Blake or Yang, Jaune distraught, and Pyrrha up on the tower, all she could do was run. Run as fast as her speed and Weiss’ glyphs could take her. What if she wasn’t fast enough, though? What if she didn’t make it? She cried out as loud as she could, rushing upwards in a mad panic.  _

_ Please. Please, make it in time.  _

_ When she reached the top of the tower, her worst thoughts seemed to be all coming true at once. Pyrrha was on the ground, defeated. Cinder Fall had been the one who made the kill shot and was standing in front of the kneeling girl.  _

_ Move legs, move! _

_ She and Pyrrha made eye contact. The green-eyed girl didn’t have any time to react before she was burned to ashes right in front of her friend.  _

_ No, no. Why couldn’t she move!? _

_ As if mocking her, she heard Pyrrha speaking into her head from the afterlife. She cried and cried, and Pyrrha’s voice persisted.  _

_ “Ruby…. Ruby, tell Jaune… Jaune… ” _

_ Her vision went black, but Pyrrha’s voice remained. Bits indistinguishable, but she could hear the name being repeated. “Jaune…. Jaune.” _

Garnet snapped out of his dream world in an instant. He shot up, taking in the scenery around him. The bright forest of Mistral in the early morning was a stark contrast to the nightmare he'd just woken from. He gathered himself with an intake of breath, deciding to give up on sleep since it was already morning, anyway. He rose from his sleeping bag, packed up his things, and made a small breakfast as he waited for the others to wake up. 

“You’re up early.”

Hearing the unexpected voice, Garnet turned to see Jaune coming from the forest behind him. He gave a small wave, holding out a cup to the older boy. Jaune grabbed it, filling it from the small pot of coffee that was brewing over the fire and sitting down. 

“Couldn’t sleep, Garnet?”

“Eh, it was going fine, but you know. That one camping spot with the pointy rock and sleep ruined.” He lied through his teeth, eyes darting away from Jaune’s. 

“Ooh, yeah, I hate it when that happens,” Jaune said with a wince. 

“You’re up early, yourself.”

“Was planning on just using the bathroom and going back to sleep. Might as well keep you company, though.”

“Thanks.”

The two shared a warm smile and a small laugh, and Garnet was able to put his dream out of mind for the day. It wasn’t long before Ren and Nora woke up, and after sharing their small campfire-made breakfast, the group was back on the road. At least, it would give Garnet more productive things to think about. 

“Okay!” Garnet called a few hours later, as they were on the road. He pulled out the map, getting a look at where they should be going next. “The next town is….” Unfortunately the map was proving more difficult to read than he’d thought. So, this was why they always let Jaune take it. “We’re lost.” He decided to cover up his inability with map reading. 

“We’re not lost,” darnit, Jaune caught him. “The next town is Xion. My family used to visit all the time.”

“Oh, yeah,” he responded, “don’t you have like… four sisters?”

“Uh….” Jaune stammered, embarrassed, “Seven.”

Garnet snickered, unable to hold it back as Nora pointed out “You know, that actually explains a lot.” Jaune sulked for a moment before turning to Garnet, walking up to where he was holding the map. 

“You have an older sister of your own, I don’t want to hear it.”

“I was born biologically female, Jaune,” Garnet reminded him, “Wasn’t really a problem until puberty hit. I do kinda fee. l your pain, though.”

“Oh…. Yeah.”

“So!” he amended, trying to get off the topic (and spare Jaune some embarrassment), “What did you and your family do there?”

“Oh, there’s all sorts of stuff!” Jaune responded. He quickly took one side of the map in his hand, pointing out a few areas on the map. “Over here’s a great hiking trail. And over here, we used to go camping all the time! I got my own tent, because I was special.”

He seemed particularly happy at that last comment. As he noticed the sarcastic smiles he was getting from the group (well, mainly Garnet and Nora), though, he gave in and continued. 

“And… so my sisters would stop braiding my hair.”

“Didn’t like the look?”

“Yeah, they just kept putting it in pigtails. Personally, I’m more of a warrior’s wolftail kind of guy.”

“That’s… just a ponytail.”

“... I stand by what I said.”

Garnet couldn’t help but chuckle a little at their back and forth. Jaune continued to show him a few areas around Xion on the map. Garnet teased Jaune, commenting on how “as much as I love you, one sister is bad enough. I don’t even want to think about seven more.”. As the pair had their fun, however, they hadn’t noticed their two friends freezing in their tracks. 

“Uh, guys?” Nora called them out of their thoughts, pointing them forward. 

_ The world was burning _ . 

Or at least, the village was. For the four children though, it certainly seemed as if that one village was the whole world at the moment. They rushed inside, desperately looking around the burned streets for survivors. 

Ren found one. 

The group rushed towards their friend when he called, seeing the dying huntsman sitting in the rubble. Dying,but still alive, and coughing horribly. 

“What happened!?” Garnet called as soon as they got to the man. “Who did this? What did this?”

“Bandits,” the man wheezed out. The four children watched with pained concern as the apparent only survivor explained. “A whole tribe. And then, with all the panic...”

“Grimm,” Ren responded matter of factly. The three looked at each other, and the black-haired boy stood up. “I’m going to find something we can use to carry him.”

As he left, the remaining three members of team RNJR formed a team huddle. They needed a game plan, and they needed one quick. 

“Alright, let’s take him to the next village and try to find a doctor there,” Garnet suggested. 

“Yeah,” Jaune responded, “If Ren can’t find anything to carry him, he and I can just take turns doing it ourselves.”

“I don’t know if he’s going to make it,” Nora input. 

“He will,” Jaune insisted, “He has to...”

“We need to get going now, his chances will be better. I can run ahead and look for help— ”

“Guys?”

Ren’s voice got the group’s attention. They followed his forlorn gaze, seeing the man lying on the ground. Another small light snuffed out. They all just stared for a moment, no doubt all thinking the same thing. It might have just been a small village, but it was still important. 

“We should get out of here,” Ren interjected, quickly. “It’s not safe.” He seemed in a particularly bad mood, as he didn’t even pay attention to Nora’s calling after him. Garnet and Jaune were left by themselves, unable to do much but take in the destruction. 

“It will be okay,” he tried to reassure Jaune as best he could. Though, if he was feeling honest, the sight of the burning village didn’t exactly give him many hopeful feelings, either. Still, he had to be the one. The only one to  _ not _ be hurt. 

“I’m… Just tired of losing everything.”

“Well, that makes two of us.” The words were muttered, and mostly to himself. Jaune had turned away to right Ren and Nora. He gave a deep sigh as the group continued to move forward toward the next village. By the time night fell, they were all eager to just get some sleep. 

_ Again, Beacon and Vale found itself up in flames.  _

_ This time, he was outside the city, looking on as it burned, and the Grimm invaded. He tried to rush in, to save people, to help, but he found himself barricaded out. He cried and cried, images of his friends falling around him flashing into his mind.  _

_ He wanted to keep Penny from breaking. To prevent Yang from losing her arm. To save Pyrrha. Yet, all he could do was watch on in horror as everything slowly descended to ashes around him. The small boy cried out, down on his knees and just wanting all this pain and destruction to go away.  _

_ Out of the ashes came the face that caused all of the destruction in the first place. _

_ “Cinder.” He glared, instantly grabbing Crescent Rose and darting forward. As he tried to strike, however, he passed right through. As if the vision of the enemy was made from the ashes of the city burning around her.   _

_ She walked, carefree and slow, towards a scene where Pyrrha and Jaune fought together in the city. Garnet tried to follow, but found himself held back by an invisible wall again. Cinder drew her bow. It was a slow motion, as if she was relishing in what she was about to do.  _

_ “No! Pyrrha! Jaune!” Garnet cried out, seeing the arrow loosed. It struck true, right at Pyrrha’s heart, and again Garnet was forced to watch as she burned to ashes. This time, crying out to the boy she loved, who was standing right next to her.  _

_ “Jaune… Jaune!” _

_ As Pyrrha cried, Garnet was wailing. He tried to hack away at the invisible wall angrily with Crescent Rose, unable to make so much as a dent. And then, Cinder turned towards him. With a coy smirk, che pulled back and set loose another arrow. It flew the invisible wall, even through the hacking motions of Crescent Rose, as if it didn’t exist. Yet it certainly struck him right in his neck.  _

_ The girl walked up to him, kneeling over with the same cocky look plastered on her face. He barely heard her whisper “you’re next” over the cries from beyond the ‘wall’. Pyrrha had already turned to ash, yet he still heard her cry for her lost friend and love.  _

_ “Jaune…. Jaune!” _

He shot up again, the pain from the dream arrow still searing into his chest. He managed to clear his mind, taking in that he was still perfectly fine. Still in a forest. Still in Mistral. It was still the middle of the night, and he grumbled to himself as he tried to cling to sleep. An act he knew was an exercise in futility. Yet, as he readied himself to close his eyes again, he heard it. 

It was definitely Pyrrha’s voice, and this time in his waking hours (unless he was still half asleep, which he wouldn’t argue with considering how he felt). He glanced around the camp, seeing Jaune’s yellow sleeping bag lying open, with no sign of the blond himself. 

He followed the source of the voice, imagining that might be where Jaune was. It would solve the mystery too. As he got closer, he saw a small light in the distance. He poked his head around a large tree, seeing Jaune standing in front of his scroll. Ah, so that video was the cause of the voice. He watched for a moment as Jaune trained, using Pyrrha’s video as a reference. He couldn’t help but smile a bit melancholically as he watched. He turned back to camp, deciding that if neither of them were going to sleep, he could at least be ready for when Jaune came back. 

By the time Jaune came back, around early morning (so that explained why he was up early the previous day as well) their things were already packed up. Garnet had made them food, and was making some coffee on the fireplace. The blond stared, shocked, as Garnet handed him a cup. 

“Morning, Jaune. How’d training go?”

“You…. You saw that?” The boy asked sheepishly.

“Yup. Do Ren and Nora — ”

“Nope.”

Jaune gave a small sigh as he took the coffee and sat down next to Garnet for a moment. It was quiet for a moment, then Jaune decided to elaborate a bit more on his previous answer. 

“I can’t really tell them,” he responded. “They’d worry too much, you know?”

“Yeah,” Garnet agreed with a nod, “Having them around is kind of like having a second set of parents, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is,” Jaune said with a laugh. “Except Nora’s the dad and Ren’s the mom.”

“Accurate.”

The two shared a small laugh. It was a nice distraction from the yucky feelings Garnet had been having since he’d woken up from his nightmare. 

“So, why are you awake?” Oh god, he asked. Garnet was hoping he wouldn’t ask. 

“Another uncomfortable night?”

“You’re not getting me with that twice.” Darnit why was this lovable idiot so smart sometimes? “I’m, like, the king of bad luck in camping places and even I haven’t had that problem twice in a row.”

Oh, joy. Garnet glanced down at his coffee cup for a moment. He kicked his legs and fidgetted, unable how to really breach the topic. After all, if Ren was the mom and Nora was the dad… Jaune was the annoyingly protective older brother. Especially since Garnet was the better fighter. Still, he knew his friend wouldn’t shut up until he said it. 

“Nightmares...” He muttered into his cup. 

“Huh?” Jaune asked, his innocent inquiry really making Garnet upset. 

“Nightmares!” He managed to shriek out, his voice cracking slightly. Yeah, that still happened every now and then. “I haven’t really had them until recently…. It’s probably stress… and your video definitely isn’t helping.”

“Um… I’ll be sure to train further out next time.”

“Please do,” he muttered. “Just be careful.”

“So, should we mention this to — ”

“Gods, no,” Garnet responded. “If you’re going to get mom and dad on my case, I’ll get them on yours in a heartbeat.”

Garnet couldn’t help but laugh as Jaune mentioned something about ‘stupid tattle tale little brother’. Still, he gave Garnet a reassuring smile, playfully ruffling the boy’s hair before getting back to his coffee.

There was a pause for a while. The two sat and watched their friends sleeping, chatted about nothing. Their families, their wars over the worst sibling relationships. All the happy times they had at Beacon. They seemed to ignore almost anything else. Talking about nothing just seemed to help the time go by. 

“So!” Garnet said cheerfully, as the group set back on their way. “The next village is Higan Bay...na? Higan… Higan...”

“Higanbana,” Ren corrected him. “It’s a well-protected village with a popular inn.”

“Which means,” Nora responded, making a small umbrella motion with her hand. “No more sleeping in the rain!”

“Great!” Garnet responded, “It seems like everything’s going to be fine!”

“Yeah,” Jaune responded, “You know, now that I stop to think about it, we’re pretty lucky. I wonder why we haven’t encountered more Grimm.”

“It’s nice to have luck on our side for once!” Nora agreed. 

They walked for a short while, thankful that the rain waited until they made it to the village to start pouring. They quickly ran into the inn, finding themselves still mostly dry by the time they made it inside. 

“Welcome!” The innkeeper, a tan-skinned young man in brown clothes greeted them. “How can I help you tonight?”

“Four rooms please!” Garnet said as he came up to the table. “And maybe hang out with me for a little while before we leave town tomorrow?” The last bit had a playful edge to it, and the group behind Garnet groaned. 

“We’re very sorry about him,” Ren responded, pulling Garnet back toward team RNJR with a respectful bow toward the innkeeper. 

“Think nothing of it,” the youth responded with a chuckle as he handed the group their room keys. “Give it a few more years, squirt, and you’ll be a heartbreaker, okay?”

Garnet groaned as his friends laughed. “I can’t believe this!”

Well, at least they weren’t too far from Mistral, now. As long as nothing went wrong, it would only be a matter of time before the group finally arrived at Haven!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tah-dah! The next chapter is here! I added the bit at the end of "Family" to this one, so it's not JUST Rememberance, but it's close enough. I hope everyone likes how this chapter turned out okay! It stayed mostly true to the source material, but I added a couple extra scenes and some nightmare sequences for Garnet to flesh things out a bit more. 
> 
> Speaking of those nightmare scenes, boy were they hard to write. I hope they came out okay, getting those right was what took the longest. I'm pretty proud of them, but still a bit uneasy. Granted that's nothing new for me. 
> 
> Anyway, we're another chapter down! I hope you enjoyed this one. Next time we'll be skipping to Chapter 6 of Volume 4, "Tipping Point!" Since we're keeping strictly to team RNJR's perspective, we're getting to the climax quickly. Won't last long once we get to volume 5, though.


	5. Tipping Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In their travels, the group comes across the unknown, abandoned town of Oniyuri. While trying to calm a visibly upset Ren, Garnet makes his way through the town with the others, only to be attacked by a mysterious stranger.

“Another day, another adventure!”

It had been a couple days since they’d left Higanbana, continuing their way toward Mistral. They were headed in the direction of the next village, having eagerly put the incident at Xion behind them. Well, for the most part.

Nora stretched her arms outward in a happy motion, with a bright smile on her face. They were about halfway through the day, at this point, with no sign of the a new village on the map for miles.

“What’s on the agenda today?” Garnet asked.

“Walking,” Jaune responded matter of factly.

“With a side of…?” Nora responded eagerly.

“Walking.” Ren said in a similar manner to Jaune.

Ugh, why was Anima so obnoxiously big? Garnet gave a small sigh, feelings of homesickness and wondering how concerned about him his dad was washing over him for a brief moment. He choked them, back, however, attempting to shrug it off. “Haven’s a lot farther away than I thought...”

“Garnet…?” Ren walked up toward him, and the smaller boy made brief eye contact. “How long did you think this journey was going to take?”

The question was gentle, but it probed at Garnet rather aggressively. The boy suddenly felt flustered, trying to figure out exactly how long he’d thought it _would_ take. Definitely not this long — it had been months at this point, nearly a year.

“I don’t know…!” He responded. His own frantic homesickness and concern about what could have happened to Haven during this time came out in his cracking voice. “Patch is really small… and I’ve never been this far away from home!”

“Yeah, but… How long?” Jaune asked, the only one that seemed completely unaware of the homesick edge in Garnet’s voice.

“Maybe, like… two… weeks?”

“What!?”

Jaune’s incredulous outcry only made Garnet more irritable. “Fine, three or something!” He shouted, throwing his hands into the air. Well, if it wasn’t obvious he’d had no initial idea before, now he was just making it even more obvious. “But whatever...”

As he glanced away from Jaune, who was still looking at him funny, his eyes caught view of something strange. Some kind of… wall? He turned to his friends, motioning in its general direction. “Hey, what’s that?”

Nora instantly darted forward to get a better look at what seemed to be a village in the distance. Jaune looked at his map, confused, as if trying to see if he made some kind of mistake. Ren was going over the map with him.

“That’s weird...” Jaune finally settled on. “I didn’t think we’d be getting to another village for a few days...”

“Are those buildings… damaged?”

And, that set off their normal reflex. The moment they heard Nora’s question, the remaining three members of RNJR shared a concerned glance. Jaune urged them forward to look for survivors, and the group sprung into action.

They searched the village frantically, sporadically calling out as they searched. There was nothing there. No one. The buildings seemed more incomplete than damaged, and it was almost as if….

“It almost seems like… the town was abandoned.” Way to steal his thunder, Ren. Still, the entire village was eerie. If it was abandoned… what from, and where did everyone go? Unpleasant thoughts creeped into the back of Garnet’s mind, but he pushed them back.

“Hey! I think I found something!”

Hearing Nora calling for them, the group rushed toward her. What she found was a stone signpost, overgrown with Ivy. The name of the village? She swept the ivy aside, and the name “ONIYURI” was engraved on it.

“Oniyuri...” Nora seemed to ponder. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“Me, neither,” Jaune agreed, perplexed.

“I have.” The simple comment from Ren caused everyone to turn his way. He was always the more well-studied of the group (not saying much when his group members were Jaune, Nora, and Garnet, but hey), but it was still surprising. “You might think if it as… Anima’s Mountain Glenn… Had it never been completed.”

“Years ago, the richest members of Mistral were unhappy with the way they kingdom waas being run. Angry with the council, they pooled their resources together to create a new city. With its own laws. They hoped that one day, it could maybe even become its own Kingdom. A lot of people thought it would be the future…. I know my parents did.”

Their usually docile friend suddenly became sullen. Nora wore a concerned expression, seemingly aware of the implications of the comment. The two of them were childhood friends, after all… so that was only natural.

Garnet walked towards Ren as he walked away from the group, not wanting the other to feel too isolated. “What… happened?” He asked, concerned. He couldn’t tell exactly what they were, but he knew there were emotions bubbling under Ren’s cool demeanor. Lately, he’d been keeping his own bottled up as well. He tried to reach out, but Ren rejected him, simply swiping away a layer of dust.

“What always happens.”

“... Grimm?”

“It wasn’t just any Grimm.”

“It…?” Garnet asked, trying to get Ren to look his way. “It was just one?”

The flapping of wings signaled a group of crows to fly over the group’s heads, and an eerie silence settled in. Mied with the incomplete buildings and abandoned streets, it was a rather uneasy conversation, that was for sure.

“Let’s just get through here,” Jaune urged the group, beginning to walk forward, “This place gives me the creeps.”

Garnet and Nora each shot Ren a concerned look. Nora walked forward after a moment, but it took Ren storming forward for Garnet to rejoin the group.

He walked next to Ren as the group walked through the eerie streets, eyes darting around every now and then as if expecting something to pop out at them. Eventually though, his concerned gaze fell on his upset friend.

“Um… Ren? Are you okay?” He wasn’t used to seeing their group’s resident ninja so heated. Ren always seemed to have his emotions in check.

“I’m fine.” Though, his lack of eye contact didn’t really lend any credence to the words he spoke. Garnet didn’t make eye contact with Ren, either, gathering up his courage before continuing.

“If you want to talk...” He started, but as he placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder, the other pulled away, starting to walk faster as if trying to get away from him. “It’s not good to bottle everything up, Ren!” Big words to the kettle, pot. His own bottled up emotions came out in his voice for a moment as he struggled to keep up without his semblance. “I just want to — ”

“It’s none of your business, Garnet!” The sudden outburst caused everyone to recoil. Garnet felt pangs of frustration and concern mixing in his chest and throat at the same time — it was a weird feeling. He seemed to realize the level of his outburst when he noticed the looks on everyone’s faces, however. His mood didn’t seem to get any better, but at least he managed to get back in control of himself. “I’m sorry…. It’s just really personal, and — ”

Without finishing his statement, Ren stopped cold. He held out his hand to urge the others to stop as well. The group paused, glancing around to see what he was sensing. When he reached for his weapons, however, the group all pulled out theirs without question. Ren was always the best at sensing incoming threats.

So, while the group was surprised when an unknown man suddenly leapt over one of the buildings nearby, they were at least prepared. The man came straight for Garnet, who readied Crescent Rose. Ren intercepted, however.

The stranger was fast. Even Ren had a hard time keeping up, clashing blades with blades, and kicks with kicks in a short burst. He was eventually kicked away, however, and the man came at Garnet again, who went on the defensive with Crescent Rose. His scythe swung around as quickly as he could, but when he tried to go on the attack, the man got a blow in on him with those strange, wrist-bound weapons. A crazed smile came over the man’s face as he went at Garnet again, only for Jaune to get in the way.

Garnet’s friend rose his shield, but the man in the trenchcoat only found time to perch on it. He seemed completely unperturbed by it, instead just leaning into Jaune a bit curiously. Nora took the opportunity to charge, but the stranger simply leapt off her hammer in a nimble motion, straight into a building. The crashing sound as the man broke through the fragile wall resounded through the empty village.

“We’re not looking for a fight!” Jaune tried to pacify the stranger, though everyone was still holding their weapons at the ready. Just in case.

“Who are you!?” Ren asked.

The stranger leapt from the building, standing straight in front of the group. The other three continued to stay in front of Garnet, who he’d seemed to be gunning for. Why was as good a question to Garnet as it was to the rest of them, though.

“Who I am matters not to you,” the man said in an eerily formal tone of voice as he pointed to Ren. “Or you. Or — ” He pointed towards Nora, and made a motion to do the same with Jaune before pausing. “Well… ” He pointed towards Jaune, finally as he stated, “You _do_ interest me.” His words causing the blond to recoil, perplexed look on his face.

“No,” the man continued with an eerie smile on his face, “I only matter to _you_.”

Completely bemused, Garnet glanced at the man quizzically as he pointed towards him. The man wanted him? What for? Was it about the fall of Beacon? Or something else? What else could it be? “Me…?”

The man seemed to break out in uncontrollable laughter at Garnet’s ignorance. It was maniacal, and honestly a little unsettling. “You haven’t the slightest clue, have you!?” He responded, his tone amused and excited. “Oh, how exciting this must be!” The crazed chuckles continued as the man kept an eerie smile on his face, while Garnet took an aggressive stance.

“What do you want!?”

“The rose has thorns!” He continued with a mockingly surprised face. “Though, this is curious. I’d been told the child I was looking for was a more _delicate_ flower, not a wild Rose.”

The fall of Beacon, then. That was around the last time he could have been considered a ‘delicate flower’. He gripped his scythe with both hands, staring the man down. “I’m afraid that whoever your informant is, their information is a bit outdated. Now what do you want!?”

Realization appeared on the man’s face for a split second. He hopped up in down with eerily giddy giggles, clapping his hands. “Well, this is _fun_ , isn’t it? Very well, little boy. I have come to take you away with me.” He made an exaggerated hand motion towards the distance, smiling towards Garnet, who backed away slightly. His friends came in to cover for him, though.

“What if he doesn’t want to go with you!?” Nora insisted, holding up her hammer as RNJR took hammerup their defensive positions.

“I’ll take him,” the man responded, as if it was obvious, not remotely fazed by the children.

“We’re not going to let you do that,” Jaune disagreed, holding his shield up in front of Garnet.

“Good.”

The man came at them with ferocity and bloodlust that the group hadn’t seen since the Fall. He lunged right behind Jaune, the blond only able to defend thanks to Ren calling out to him. Even with two against one, it seemed as if the man was simply toying with them. He shrugged the other two boys off easily. Garnet was in his sights again, but Nora came to his defense. A clever idea in his head, Garnet grinned and readied Crescent Rose. He loaded her up with lightning dust rounds, waiting for the right opportunity. He found it as Nora gained some space, the man rushing towards her again.

The dust rounds hit their mark — zooming past the stranger and straight into Nora, knocking her backwards.

The man, not knowing what RNJR knew, just stared in awe for a moment. He then burst into cheerful laughter, turning away from Nora — exactly what Garnet had in mind. “Well, if that isn’t ironic.”

Garnet simply cocked his head to the side, a cocky smirk on his face. The other two boys got up in ready fighting positions, as well. Their calm seemed to tell the stranger something wasn’t right — but he was too late. Nora was fully charged.

She rushed him, hammer poised to strike from behind. He turned a little too late, and Nora got a good hit in — or so they’d thought.

As the dust from the attack cleared, they saw something they weren’t expecting. A scorpion’s tail hunched over the stranger, protecting him from the blow. So much for the element of surprise. A few swift kicks sent Nora flying backwards, and the man discarded his coat (which was probably meant to hide the tail).

“He’s a faunus,” Ren stated, voicing the group’s surprise.

“Ugh, what is this about!?” Garnet insisted. “The White Fang!? Roman Torchwick!?”

“Plastic soldiers and pawns!” The man dismissed with grandiose motions. Boy, this was one heck of a looney. “My heart and body belong only to our _goddess!_ ” Images of the fall flashed in Garnet’s head at that one line, and his frustration grew.

“Cinder...”

“Only in her wildest dreams!” Well, that was unexpected.

Garnet didn’t have time to think about what that could mean, however. Before long, the man rushed him, and they were locked in a heated match. The scorpion tail trying to sting them didn’t exactly help team RNJR, in fact it only made the match harder.

“Now that you mention her though,” the stranger stated as his and Garnet’s weapons were locked for a brief moment, “Oh, I am interested to see how _she’ll_ react to this little development.” One of his giddy giggles started again, and Garnet had to dodge his tail only for their stalemate to be broken.

The man’s weapons made contact, depleting Garnet’s Aura as a few swift kicks sent him flying backwards. The pain from the damage was then mixed with something else. A pang in his chest and a suffocating feeling. He gripped at his chest on the ground, struggling to gather air.

“His binder is suffocating him!” Ren, the most perceptive of the group, called out. “Nora, help him!”

“On it!”

Jaune and Ren went to the two’s defense, doing their best to fight off the man while Nora rushed to Garnet’s side. All the while, Nora was fiddling underneath Garnet’s vest and shirt. Luckily, Ren had come up with the clever idea to sew laces into  the sides of Garnet’s binders, similar to a girl’s corset(way to go, team mom). So all they had to do was unlace them, and they’d loosen to allow him to breathe easier.

After some fiddling, Garnet was able to breath again. However, the man had already knocked Jaune and Ren backwards. It didn’t take long for him to dispatch Nora, who had gone into the fray as soon as Garnet started gathering breath back, either. Garnet, still recovering his strength, struggled to sit up as the man came towards him, knowing he wouldn’t be able to fend off the stinger the stranger was poised to strike him with.

He winced, preparing for a strike that never came. The sound of the man’s tail hitting metal filled Garnet’s ears, and he knew someone had managed to come to his defense. Looking up in hopes of seeing one of his friends back in the fray, he was surprised when instead it was…

“Uncle… Qrow...”

“Hey there,” his uncle responded with a reassuring smile, his weapon fending off the man’s sting, “Well, look at you, squirt.”

And, though weakly, Garnet smiled back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're zooming through Volume four like nothing! I added a couple extra scenes here. Namely the one with Ren right before Tyrian's fight, and adding a couple lines and happenings to said fight. Speaking of, I hoped you liked it okay. I'm really not good at writing action, so I kind of tried not to focus on it too much. I have to focus on it at least a little, though, since RWBY is an action show and I don't want to take away from that! 
> 
> The conclusion to the Tyrian fight will be next time, in Punished! Though, we all know how this is going to play out (this is a great fight so I'm trying not to change too much.~)


	6. Punished

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the arrival of his uncle, Garnet finds himself rescued. However, the fight with the mysterious assailant continues, and team RNJR wants answers.

The two adults stood in their stalemate for only a moment. The four children, still reeling from the attack, looked on and caught their breath. After a short moment passed, Qrow parried the Faunus’ tail off of his blade, and the other jumped back.

“Well, as I live and breathe!” The man's dramatics continued, his scorpion tail moving erratically as he stood up straight. “Qrow Branwen! A true Huntsman has entered the fray!”

The man’s erratic behavior seemed to unnerve everyone in the group. Qrow glanced back towards Garnet, who was currently preoccupied with propping himself up with Crescent Rose and catching his breath. At his uncle’s silent question, however, Garnet couldn’t help but shrug and shake his head.

“I don’t know,” he responded, his own confusion turning into a somewhat sassy response. “This guy is just weird.”

Qrow seemed to note the boy’s irritation, and he turned towards the mysterious assailant. Naturally, he went into an aggressive stance, protecting his nephew. After all, Garnet was certainly worse for wear at this point.

“Look pal,” Qrow responded, holding his sword out as if trying to scare the man off, “I’m not sure who you are, but you need to leave my nephew alone.” Agh, thank god for the cool uncle who understood the whole gender situation right away — granted, Garnet _was_ one year into his hormones so it was kind of obvious at this point.

“Why friend, my name is Tyrian,” the man said, with a laugh that seemed less than friendly. “And I’m afraid that is not possible. My assignment from her grace was to retrieve this young boy...” he paused in his statement, as if thinking it over. After a moment of thought, he amended what he said. “Actually, my assignment was to retrieve a young girl, but apparently things change. Either way, that is what I must do. One does not upset the queen.”

“Queen?” Garnet asked. Yet again, his mind flashed to Cinder and the Fall, but the man had insisted earlier that that wasn’t the case.

“Salem...” Qrow muttered under his breath, but Garnet was able to catch it, and was now even more confused.

“Who?”

“I think we’ve had enough talk, now,” the one named Tyrian responded, steadily becoming more aggressive as he talked. He bent down to the ground, seeming to get ready to strike.

“You took the words right out of my — ”

Uncle Qrow never got to finish his sentence.

What followed was a battle between professional huntsmen (or, a huntsman and a criminal? whatever) that the four students couldn’t hope to follow. Swing after swing came at each other, and it seemed like the fight would continue on forever.

As the clash continued, it seemed Qrow had the upper hand, at first. Of course, when it came to melee combat, uncle Qrow wouldn’t lose! Garnet was silently cheering for his uncle as the two traded blows, trying to find a good opening to get in and help. The two professionals clashed, uncle Qrow’s broadsword pressuring the other as it pushed him backwards.

Unfortunately, the other managed to catch uncle Qrow off guard by finally unveiling the gun-part of his weapon (because why wouldn’t it be a gun?). While it caused Qrow to jump backwards, he didn’t slow down and continued parrying. Seeing what they thought was an opening, Ren and Nora charged in to help. Garnet tried to join them, but Jaune grabbed him by the wrist, staying ready in case of attack, but shaking his head toward Garnet.

“After what just happened, you shouldn’t get back in there,” Jaune argued. Garnet groaned, rolling his eyes but staying out of the fray for the time being.

Of course, the two students could hardly help at all with Tyrian’s onslaught. The man’s quick, erratic movements pushed them back. As they seemed ready to re-enter the fray, however, uncle Qrow intervened.

“Don’t come closer!” Garnet’s uncle snapped at the children, continuing his attempts to keep Tyrian at bay.

So, being protected by his friends, being protected by his uncle? Not cool. Garnet muttered under his breath for a moment before shaking free of Jaune, who seemed to be trying to prevent him from entering the fray. Uncle Qrow didn’t want them to come closer?   
  
“Well, fine!” He shouted, using the recoil of Crescent Rose to get onto a rooftop. If he couldn’t get close, why not attack from a distance?

Well, there was one problem with that. The fight was so fast-paced, _he couldn’t even keep up with it!_ Trying to keep his sights on Tyrian while making sure not to hit his uncle Qrow seemed almost next to impossible. As luck would have it though, he found an opening when his uncle was disarmed. Both the sounds of clanging weapons and the scorpion faunus paused, and Garnet decided to take that moment to his advantage.

_Bang_. The shot from his sniper rifle sounded, but unfortunately his first shot missed. This alerted Tyrian, so his following shots were all blocked by the scorpion’s tail. The upside to that was that it distracted the faunus enough for uncle Qrow to counter. The adult countered with some hard punches, which made Garnet unable to think anything other than ‘uncle Qrow’s so cool!’ for a short period. He was enthralled by how easily his uncle kicked the strange man backward, simply taking broad paces over to the wall his weapon had previously been embedded into.

The man tried to attack, but Qrow simply flipped so that he’d land on the broad side of his sword. In a single movement he shifted it into scythe mode, countered the attack, and led the fight onto the dilapidated rooftops. As always, uncle Qrow was amazing to watch. Yet, Garnet felt himself feeling anxious. This fight was because Tyrian was looking for _him_ , for whatever reason, so he was itching to get into the thick of things. Yet uncle Qrow told him not to get close, Jaune Ren and Nora were acting like he needed protecting.

It wasn’t like he didn’t understand _why_ after the whole binder incident, but it was frustrating.

Seeing both of the men falling through the roof, Garnet couldn’t hold the urge back any more. Using Crescent Rose, he skidded down the rooftop, landing on the ground to go check on his uncle. As he did so, he saw Qrow flying backwards, and noticed that his aura seemed to be at its limit.

And instantly, any thought he had of sitting back and watching vanished. 

He charged in to intercept the moment he saw Tyrian moving in at his uncle. The man’s weapon was blocked with Crescent Rose and bounced back, as Garnet stood in front of Qrow. He heard Jaune yelling for him, but instead focused his attention on the faunus who seemed perplexed by his actions.

“Do you wish to be taken!?” Tyrian responded to his joining the fight hysterically.

“No! But I won’t stand by and watch someone get hurt!” Least of all if that someone was someone important to him. He joined his uncle in the fray. The two took on their enemy for a short bout, but as the man’s stinger came down on Garnet, he found himself being protected yet again.

“Garnet! What did I say!? Get back!”

“No! I’m tired of being protected! This is my fight too!”

“It’s not about that,” his uncle protested, holding back their attacker as best he could. Unfortunately, Garnet was feeling a bit obstinate at the moment and didn’t really want to listen. All the pent up frustration he’d been holding in, he decided to let out.

He swung as hard as he could, but the man blocked. Garnet felt the pain as he got hit with a kick that sent him flying backwards, but somehow managed to catch himself. He scrambled to go on the defensive, but keeping an eye on the faunus prevented him from noticing the old scaffolding from the dilapidated building nearby falling on top of him.

Luckily, his ever-reliable uncle came to the rescue yet again. This time, however, Garnet couldn’t be mad. While he wanted to sulk a little at the save, his father figure was just looking out for them in the heat of battle, he knew. Besides that, while the uncle-nephew pair were silently interacting, Tyrian decided to strike.

His stinger struck Qrow in the side. Garnet’s uncle didn’t stagger, but he was taken aback by the sting. Before anyone could react, though, Garnet acted while the other was caught up in his momentary victory. He moved fluidly with Crescent Rose and latched it around the other’s stinger, cutting a good quarter of the faunus’ tail with the recoil of a single shot.

The man backed away, letting out a blood curdling yell in pain. His attention on Garnet, the man made to charge. He was intercepted by the remaining members of Team RNJR, and backed away. Obviously not liking his chances in his current state, he backed off. Muttering under his breath, he made a quick retreat.

The moment their opponent was gone, however, Qrow collapsed to one knee. Instantly, Garnet moved to check on his uncle. “Uncle Qrow! Are you okay!?”

His uncle was breathing heavily, and the boy was absolutely frantic. Had uncle Qrow been hurt because he was protecting him? If he wound up seriously hurt, that would mean it was all Garnet’s fault. As if knowing what his nephew was thinking, however, Qrow spoke up in a strained voice.

“No worries, kiddo,” he said, “Just grazed me. I’ll be fine.”

Of course, Garnet didn’t entirely believe him. He  continued looking on, concerned, as the rest of team RNJR ran up to the two of them.

“Who was that guy!?”

“How did you get here…?”

“Why are people after Garnet!?”

Nora, Ren, and Jaune took turns questioning his uncle. Garnet, meanwhile, was practically shielding his elder from their oncoming questions. It wasn’t that he didn’t have _a lot of them_ , himself. Rather, there were more pressing matters at hand, right now.

“Hold up, people!” he responded, getting between them, “First thing’s first — we need to get out of here. Set up camp, and get uncle Qrow’s wound tended to. Questions come after that, alright?”

“Well… I suppose that is the sensible thing to do,” Ren agreed with a nod, “Let’s keep moving.”

The group walked a little while, Garnet helping support his uncle if his wound seemed to be causing too much pain. It was hard to tell just how light or potentially fatal the wound was, even though Qrow had stated the man just grazed him. The silver-eyed boy couldn’t help but worry about his family, after all, especially since Qrow’s injury was because of him.

Once they were sure they were a safe distance from Oniyuri, team RNJR started making camp. It was mostly hunting for firewood and getting the fire started while Ren did some basic first aid for Qrow’s injury.

“This will do for now, but we should get this looked at by a proper doctor at some point,” Ren responded as he finished up with the bandages.

“Thanks, kid,” Qrow responded, “You’re pretty good at this.”

“He is basically our mom, after all,” Garnet responded.

“Wait, what?”

“A joke Garnet and I came up with when we were feeling a bit restless,” Jaune responded to Ren’s confusion with a chuckle. “Team RNJR is kind of like a big family. Ren’s the mom, Nora’s the dad, and me and Garnet are the kids that always seem to be getting into trouble.”

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

“Look at it this way, Ren,” Garnet responded. As he did so, he motioned towards the aforementioned member of his team. “Natural caretaker. Constantly fretting over us. Trying to keep us out of trouble. Mom.” From that, he moved to motioning toward the only female member of the team. “Fiercely protective. Encourages us to look after ourselves. Not afraid to break legs if we’re in danger. Dad.”

“Oh,” Ren responded with a small chuckle, “I think I get it now. Speaking of the ‘constantly fretting’ part, though.”

“Oh god, mom lecture incoming.”

“Well what do you expect,” Ren started, “After what happened with your binder earlier? I was just going to say that you probably shouldn’t wear it for the rest of the journey, until we reach Haven. If you want a lecture, however...”

“Nope, got it, no more binder in case of unexpected fights!” Garnet held his hands up, forestalling any further argument from his friend. He laughed along with Nora and Jaune for a moment while his uncle simply watched over the whole conversation. Before long, however, the children turned their attention back on the adult of the group.

“So, Uncle Qrow,” Garnet decided to speak what he knew the whole team was thinking. “Can you tell us exactly what’s going on here?”

His uncle looked at the four expectant children before taking in a deep breath. Seeming to settle on what he was going to say next, he glanced up, mainly at his nephew. “So…. What’s your favorite fairy tale?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH GOD THIS TOOK SO LONG I'M SORRY. Action really isn't my strong suit and I was at an absolute loss with how to handle this chapter. That, and life kept getting in the way. A lot. I hope you enjoyed it though! Hopefully, from here on we can move on in a brisk pace through volume 4. And hopefully I'll be able to get better at the whole action aspect of writing this.... oops. Well, it's kind of hard to translate the super fluid action of animation into writing anyway... though that sounds like a bit of an excuse. I feel like I didn't really do this chapter justice? Though that might just be because all the other things keeping me from writing frustrated me a bit so I just wanted to get the chapter out. 
> 
> I hope my attempts to add a bit to team RNJR's dynamic and a bit of character for Garnet is coming through well, though! Since action isn't really my strong point, the main focus of this fic is going to be fixing a lot of character and dialogue writing. Though, that will translate into a few action scenes so I've got to step up my game I guess...!


End file.
